QuarkXPress 7 Passport Review

Features:

These features listed are only the new features of QuarkXPress 7 that aren't in any other version of XPress. The rest of the features can be found on Quark's website.

Basic functionality and navigation

• Unify major functionality in a single location with tabbed Measurements palette
• Apply colors with a single action from Measurements palette
• Use keyboard shortcuts to tab through Measurements palette
• Use improved space/align controls on the Measurements palette
• Create tabs quickly and accurately with new Measurements palette controls and guides
• Save screen real estate by using palette groups and sets
• Organize your workspace with palette smart snapping
• Switch image alpha channels on the fly from Measurements palette
• Open and edit QuarkXPress Passport® files with single-language versions of QuarkXPress
• Apply language settings at the character level

Layout, design, and graphics management

• Apply individual opacity settings at the color level to text, box backgrounds, frames, lines, blend colors, etc.
• Support alpha channels in imported images
• Control layer opacity and blending mode of imported PSD files
• Automatically flatten with resolution control
• Export transparent PNG images from Web layouts
• Apply soft drop shadows to page items
• Skew, offset, and scale drop shadows
• Synchronize drop shadow angles throughout the layout
• Create text runaround from drop shadows
• Use independent or inherited item opacity and shadow opacity
• Knock out drop shadow with item
• Multiply drop shadow to combine drop shadows with objects below the shadow
• Synchronize boxes, pictures, text, and lines
• Synchronize attributes (color, transformations, picture effects, styles, etc.)
• Work in single-layout mode to simplify file naming
• Append layouts within projects for easy content sharing
• Export layouts into individual files or save them as an earlier version
• Use split window view
• Display multiple windows for the same layout
• Use native transparency and drop shadows in Web layouts
• Import Shockwave® Flash™ (SWF) files for interactivity in Web pages
• Export vector objects and text as SWF from Web layouts
• Benefit from superior smoothing with the new graphics engine
• Export anti-aliased graphics from Web layout
• Render shapes and rotate text more smoothly with the new graphics engine
• Apply Blur and Diffuse to alpha mask
• Integrate image formatting with shared content feature
• Edit contrast curves numerically
• Integrate alpha mask with existing layer opacity and blending mode features
• Control content flow by linking text cells within a table or linking tables to each other

Printing and production

• Use Composition Zones™ technology to share layouts among multiple projects and workstations with live updates
• Use Composition Zones technology to design simultaneously in multiple media types or layout sizes
• Use Composition Zones technology to divide a page for collaborative design
• Synchronize design settings (among multiple users)
• Synchronize color management settings (among multiple users)
• Initiate jobs from tickets with built-in production settings
• Customize preflighting and automatically evaluate layout at output, open, save
• Access Job Jackets™ Manager for advanced users such as printers, who can provide Job Jackets to clients
• Use JDF-compatible settings
• Send real-time updates on all Job Jacket settings to layouts
• Use always-on, always profile-based color management
• Automatically monitor profile detection
• Bundle key settings of source and output setups for color management
• Use casual and advanced modes for color management
• Easily soft proof files on-screen
• Simulate various output devices on-screen, such as grayscale
• Embed CMM preferences in layouts
• Use LogoSync for black point compensation
• Color manage whole workgroups with live updates via Quark Job Jackets files
• Use presets for major color management standards
• Color manage non-destructive image color correction
• Color manage vector EPS and PDF files
• Emulate color transformations of previous versions of QuarkXPress via ICC profiles
• Access numerous additional advanced settings for color management
• Create, share, and use PDF Output styles
• Use preset standard PDF styles for typical workflows
• Gain support for PDF/X 1-a and PDF/X 3
• Export PDF with JDF
• Evaluate PDF/X criteria during layout
• Verify based on standard Callas libraries
• Create smaller PDF file size through optimization and preset use

Text processing

• Use OpenType font features including:
  • Standard and discretionary ligatures
  • Cross-platform support for ligatures
  • Ligatures on-the-fly
  • Ordinals
  • Titling alternates
  • All small caps
  • Fractions
  • Swashes
  • Contextual alternates
  • Proportional Figures
  • Tabular Figures
  • Oldstyle Figures
  • Lining Figures
  • Superscript and subscript
  • Numerator and denominator
  • Case-sensitive forms and capital spacing
  • Historical forms
  • Kern
  • Ornaments
  • Scientific inferiors
  • Cross-stream ("vertical") kerning pairs
  • OpenType styling support in Find/Change
  • OpenType styling support in XPress Tags
  • OpenType Kerning Preference
  • Glyphs palette
  • Insert Invisibles from Glyphs palette or Utilities menu
  • New glyphs for invisible characters
  • Font fallback to find correct font for unsupported characters
• Find related alternate glyphs through the alternate glyph window in the Glyphs palette
• Store and access favorite glyphs
• Insert special characters from a menu
• Access style sheets through any character attribute location, including Measurements palette
• Revert paragraph attributes without removing local character formatting
• Change Case
• New default values for standard H&Js
• Five new default H&Js including "No Hyphenation"
• Paragraph rules can be set at "Column" length

PPML, XML, and media-independent publishing

• Export PPML for custom printing
• Use PPML consumers/output style
• Import XML for variable data

-Source from Quark's website: http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/features.html